To end or not to end. That is the question. The Bank of Japan says yes. The government says no. The BOJ feels the time is ripe to do away with the policy of “quantitative easing.” The govern- ment feels it is premature to ...

In Alice’s world through the looking glass, Tweedledum has “Dum” embroidered on his collar and Tweedledee has “Dee” embroidered likewise. Alice assumes they both have “Tweedle” written on the backs of their collars as well. In our world of 2005, “Dum” would read “George ...

“God said to Moses, ‘Extend your hand over Egypt to bring the locusts, and they will emerge on Egypt. They will eat all the foliage in the land . . . ” (Exodus 10:12) This was what Franz Munterfering, chairman of the German SPD ...

Numerical targets are much in vogue these days. The post-election Koizumi government also seems to have caught the bug in light of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy’s latest plans for managing the economy over the medium to longer term. Japan’s gross domestic ...

When is a choice not a choice? A choice is not a choice when elections are suddenly called at the incumbent prime minister’s convenience and the issues are not properly brought before the voters. A choice is not a choice when the election becomes ...

What do you do when things turn out right for all the wrong reasons? Do you laugh? Do you cry? Do you do a bit of both, or none of either? This must be the kind of mental acrobatics that observers of consumer price ...

Children are told to mind their Ps and Qs when they go visiting. They must be on their best behavior. They have to be able to speak like well-educated young people. They have to know P from Q. Well, so do economists, actually. Opinion ...

Inflation is not about to return to Japan just yet. According to the Bank of Japan’s latest “Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices” released at the end of last month, the BOJ Policy Board members’ median forecast for consumer prices in fiscal year 2005 ...

“Poised on the landing” is the way people have taken to talking about the Japanese economy lately. The English-language way of referring to the same thing is to call it “going through a soft patch.” The landing metaphor is altogether more elegant. It is ...

“Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old people shall dream dreams, and your young people see visions . . .” (Joel, 3:1). This particular daughter is not up to much in powers of prophecy, but this does seem to be the season for ...